Pleated, spiral-formed, wire screen



Nov. 5, 1963 D. o. MALAFOURIS 3,

mum, SPIRL-FORMED, WIRE SCREEN Dannie O. Mala foum's INVENTOR.

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United States Patent 3,109,484 PLEATED, FlRAL-FGRMED, WEE SCREEN Dannie 0. Malafouris, 2134 NE. 81st Ave, Portland, Greg. Continuation of application fier. No. 857,973, Dec. 7, 1959. This application June 4, 1962, Ser. No. 2ti0,609 2 Claims. ((31. 160-343) This invention relates to a pleated, spiral-formed, wire screen. It pertains particularly to pleated fireplace screens.

It is the general object of the present invention to provide a spiraLfOrmed, wire screen which is permanently and uniformly pleated to product an effect which is diffioult or impossible to attain by adjustment of a screen mounted in the conventional fashion.

It is another important object of the present invention to provide a spiral-formed, Wire screen which may be mounted slidably across an opening such as a fireplace opening on a rod or other guiding member and which retains a pleasing pleated pattern in any position of adjustment on the rod permanently during the entire life of the screen.

This application is a continuation of Serial No. 857,973, filed December 7, 1959, now abandoned.

The manner in which the foregoing and other objects of this invention are accomplished will be apparent from the accompanying specification and claims considered together with the drawings, wherein:

FIGS. 1 and 2 are fragmentary plan and front elevational views, respectively, of a spiral-formed, wire screen of the class employed in the present invention;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are fragmentary plan and front elevational views, respectively, of a spiral-formed, Wire screen into the meshes of which looped wire slides have been inserted as the first step in the herein described method of pleating spiral-formed wire screens; and

FIGS. 5 and 6 are fragmentary plan and front elevational views, respectively, of the screen of FIGS. 3 and 4 which has been pleated and mounted on a guiding support member in accordance with the method of the invention.

Broadly stated, the presently described method of making a pleated, spiral-formed, Wire screen comprises first inserting a length of stiff wire or other deformable structural mernber through at least one pair of spaced screen mesh openings. The wire then is formed into a slide while contemporaneously telescoping together the spiral screen strands intermediate the mesh openings through which the wire has been inserted. The slide is adjusted to a position substantially in the plane of the screen and then rotated to a plane substantially normal thereto, the direction of rotation being in the direction of the spiraling of the strands. Thereafter the slide is threaded on an elongated guiding support, such as a rod or bar, where upon the pleat formed by rotation of the slide is main tained permanently in the screen.

Considering the foregoing in greater detail and with particular reference to the drawings:

Spiral-formed wire screen of the class used in my invention has the construction illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. It is manufactured by forcing wire through a suitable die. Each successive strand ltl, as it is bent to spiral form by the die, is intermeshed with the immediately preceding strand to form a screen of the desired dimensions. The ends of the strands then are interlocked by bending them into knuckles 12, thus securing the strands together.

As is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the first step in my pleating method is to arrange the screen so that it is substantially flat, thereby providing along the upper margin of the screen adjacent, aligned, mesh openings. A length of 3,109,484 Patented Nov. 5, 1963 stiff wire 14- or other deformable structural member then is threaded or inserted through a selected pair of the openings. The spacing between the openings thus selected is variable depending upon the size of the pleat to be made.

In the exemplary illustration of the drawings, wire 14 is inserted into the end openings of successive groups of four openings 16, 18, 20, 22.

Each of these groups may be separated by as many units as is desired, for example, by units including a sequence of four openings 24, 26, 28, 30 (FIG. 6).

Wire 14- then is drawn together to form a closed loop slide of such restricted cross section as to cause a telescoping of the spiraled screen strands intermediate the mesh openings through which the wire has been inserted, i.e. intermediate openings 16 and 22. This telescoped or overlapped effect is particularly evident by comparison of FIGS. 2 and 4 of the drawings. Any desired number of slides may thus be affixed to the screen at selected intervals.

Next the slides are moved one at a time from the position of FIGS. 3 and 4 at which they are substantially at right angles to the plane of the screen to a neW position in which they are substantially in the plane of the screen.

During this action, they work into the apexes of openings 16, 22 adjacent knuckles 12.

At this stage of the operation, the te-lescoped wire strands are arranged as necessary to shift the knuckles toward the lower portion of the slide and to move the telescoped wire strands outwardly from the plane of the screen in the direction of a selected surface thereof, usually that surface which is to be the outermost or face surface of the final pleated product.

Next the slides are rotated to a plane substantially normal to the plane of the screen, or to one which is at least at a severe angle thereto as is illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6. It is critical to the success of the operation that the direction of rotation be in the direction of spiraling of the Wire strands comprising the screen. Thus if the direction of spiraling is counterclockwise, as determined by tracing the direction of the spiral upwardly from the bottom of the screen, then the direction of rotation of the slides must also be counterclockwise.

When this procedure is followed, the slides follow the spirals upwardly until they rest neatly in the pockets formed at the apexes of each of the mesh openings in which they are contained. The screen strands are formed into uniform pleats, all on the same side of the screen. The loops of the slides are projected upwardly from the screen. Support rod 32 then may be threaded easily through successive slides to form the final assembled screen, which may be moved across the rod readily without binding.

If, on the other hand, it is attempted to rotate slides 14 in the direction which is opposite the direction of spiraling of the strands, a converse result is obtained. The telescoped strands do not arrange themselves at the bottom of the slides leaving distinct openings for insertion of rod 32. Neither do they arrange themselves in neat pleats, but rather become haphazardly bunched together. Still further, the launching of the strands exerts a rotary force on slides 14 which causes them to bind against rod 32 so that the screen can not he slid smoothly along the rod as required for opening and closing it.

However, when the direction of rotation of slides 14 is in the direction of spiraling, as set forth herein, a neatly and permanently pleated product is produced which slides easily along the support rod and which is ideally suited for application as an ornamental and effective fireplace screen.

It is to be understood that the form of my invention herein shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of my invention or the scope of the sub joined clairns.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A pleated wire screen comprising intermeshed spiral strands having interlocked knuckles at their upper ends, a loop of: stiff wireextending through a pair of spaced screen mesh openings below the knuckles, which pair of openings are separated by at least one spiral strand, the loop being of a size to telescope together the strands intermediate said spaced mesh openings, the loops ex- 2], i tending upwardly from the screen and being disposed angularly relative to the plane of the screen in the direction of upward spiralling of the strands, and an elongated guiding support threaded slidably through the loop and 5 extending substantially parallel to the screen.

10 each other by a plurality of spiral strands.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,913,047 Bown Nov. 17,1959 

1. A PLEATED WIRE SCREEN COMPRISING INTERMESHED SPIRAL STRANDS HAVING INTERLOCKED KNUCKLES AT THEIR UPPER ENDS, A LOOP OF STIFF WIRE EXTENDING THROUGH A PAIR OF SPACED SCREEN MESH OPENINGS BELOW THE KNUCKLES, WHICH PAIR OF OPENINGS ARE SEPARATED BY AT LEAST ONE SPIRAL STRAND, THE LOOP BEING OF A SIZE TO TELESCOPE TOGETHER THE STRANDS INTERMEDIATE SAID SPACED MESH OPENINGS, THE LOOPS EX- 